Garment hanger



June 16,1942.

B. A. RUSSO GARMENT HANGER Filed Aug. 1, 1940 Patented June 16, 1942 UNITED STATE s PATENT OFFICE This invention relates to garment hangers, and more particularly to the provision of a garment hanger that may be used either for suspension by its end portions in wardrobe trunks, for example, which are usually provided with a pair of bars for this purpose, or for suspension from a single central point, as in closets, so that the hanger may be employed either as a trunk hanger or as a closet hanger.

It is common practice to provide wardrobe trunks with a pair of bars upon which are supported a plurality of garment hangers on which the garments are hung, so that the latter may be packed and carried in the trunk without becoming wrinkled or creased. Usually the garment hangers are provided at their ends with open hooks, or in some instances with recesses at their lower edge to fit over these rods. It has been found in practice, however, that these hangers often become disengaged from the rods during the handling of the trunks, with the result that the clothes upon the hangers become disarranged, and arrive at their destination in badly rumpled condition.

Also it is desirable to provide a trunk hanger with a hook or similar member by which it may be supported when removed from the trunk, so

that it is not necessary to transfer the garment to another hanger when it is desired to remove the garment from a trunk and hang it in a closet. It is also desirable to have these hooks or supporting members so connected to the garment hanger that it may be moved or folded to an outof-the-way position, where it will not interfere with the use of the hanger in the trunk, and at the same time will be readily moved to operative position when the device is used as a closet hanger. 1

One object of the present invention is the provision of a garment hanger for use in a wardrobe trunk, which is provided with means to embrace the supporting rods ordinarily provided in the trunk, and which embracing means at the same time may be readily disengaged from the rods for removal of the han e A still further object of the invention is the provision of a trunk garment hanger with supporting members adjacent its ends to support it manner that it may be folded to an out-of-theway position when not in use, and also provided with means for supporting the hanger from the usual trunk rods, the latter means being so constructed' that accidental disengagement thereof from the rods will be obviated.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts from a trunk rod or the like, these membersbeing so constructed that danger of accidental disengagement from the rods will be eliminated.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a combined trunk and closet garment hanger provided with a central supporting member pivoted to the body of the device in such a to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a garment hanger embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of one end of the hanger;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view .taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of the centrally located supporting means;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the supporting hook;

Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of a modified form of my invention, and

Fig. 8 is a view showing the method of supporting the garment hanger shown in Fig. 7.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown a garment hanger consisting of a crossbar II! from which is suspended a coat hanger II having a lower garment-supporting portion l2, which may be used for supporting trousers, for example. The parts H), II and i2 may, if desired, be integrally formed of any appropriate material, such as wood.

If the crossbar I0 is of wood, there may be secured to the ends of the same, sheet metal caps i3 provided with a clamp portion II. This clamp portion may, and preferably will be, formed integrally with the metal cap portion l3, and isof substantially semi-circular form so as to form substantially one half of a clamp, the other half of which is formed by the jaw member l5 of a shape similar to that of the portion I4, and secured to a yoke I! pivoted to the garment hanger at H.

It will be apparent that the movable jaw of the clamp formed by the members I4 and I5 is swingable about the pivot pin H from the closed position shown at the right-hand end of Fig. 1 to open position shown at the left-hand end of this figure. It will be understood that a wardrobe trunk is usually provided with a pair of rods upon which the garment hangers are supported, and the jaw members I and H: are adapted, when in closed position, to embrace and surround these rods so that there will be no danger of the hanger becoming accidentally disengaged from the rod when in use. The lower clamp portion or law I! may be moved to open position when it is desired to disengage the hangers from the rod.

As shown in Fig. 3, the sheet metal cap portion l3 may be of hollow form, and entirely surround the member Ill. Likewise the yoke I6 is bifurcated to embrace the member l3, and the pivot pin l1 passes through both arms of the yoke.

Within the cap I3 is slidably mounted a pin I or button l8 adapted to be urged outwardly by a spring l9 housed in a guide member 20 within the cap IS. The member I8 is held outwardly by the spring in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, wherein it lies below one arm of the yoke l8 to hold the jaw I in closed position. When it is desired to swing the jaw to open position, the button I8 is pressed inwardly until it no longer engages the yoke IS, in which event the yoke is free to drop to open position.

In order that the coat hanger may be removed from the trunk and suspended in a closet or from a hook, I provide at the central portion of the bar in a sheet metal housing member 2|, which, as shown in Fig. 5, may be bent into U-shaped form so as to embrace the cross bar In and be secured thereto by the fastening members 22. The member 2| is provided with a transverse slot 23 through which projects the wire body of a hook 24. Adjacent its lower end this hook is provided with an angularly turned portion 25, and on the extreme end is provided with a ball 26 adapted to lie within the member 26, and which ball is of sumcient size so that it will not pass through the slot 23.

From reference to Figs. 4 and 5. it will be seen that the hook 24 will be secured to the member 2! for universal movement, and may be folded downwardly to lie alongside the crossbar E0, or moved upwardly to stand above the crossbar in position to be hung upon a hook or other sustaining member. The laterally turned end 25 of the hook will enable the latter to hang in a vertical position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 5, closely alongside the bar Ill, where it will be out of the way of the user. Moreover, the hook may be moved downwardly upon either side of the crossbar III at the convenience of the user.

The embodiment of my invention shown in Figs. 7 and 8 is like that shown in Figs. 1 to 5, except that, instead of providing clamping jaws at the end of the crossbar ID, the members I3 are provided with rings through which the supporting bars 31 provided in the wardrobe trunk may be inserted. The garment hanger is then prevented from removal from the bar by means of a screw 32 having an enlarged head 33, which screw is threadedly engaged with a collar 34 secured within the hollow bar 3|. In this case the hangers may be removed from the bars by removing the screw 33 and sliding the hangers longitudinally of the bars.

While I have shown and described some preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A garment hanger having a garment supporting portion, a rigid bar secured to and disposed above said portion, said bar having supporting means at its opposite ends, said means comprising an upper clamp jaw of arcuate shape fixed to the bar and projecting from the end thereof, and a lower jaw of similar shape pivoted to the bar to cooperate with the first-named jaw to form a closed clamp to encircle a supporting member, and releasable means to hold said pivoted jaw in closed position. 7

2. A garment hanger having a garment supporting portion, a rigid bar secured to and disposed above said portion, said bar having supporting means at its opposite ends, said means comprising an upper clamp jaw of. arcuate shape fixed to the bar and projecting from the end thereof, and a lower jaw of similar shape pivoted to the bar to cooperate with the first-named jaw to form a closed clamp to encircle a supporting member, and releasable means to hold said pivoted jaw in closed position, said last-named means comprising a spring pressed pin normally standing below a part of the pivoted jaw and movable to inoperative position to release the jaw to open the clamp.

BLACY A. RUSSO. 

